So I am in Staunton, Virginia. My companion is Hermana Ashcraft. She just got out of training which means she has been out for about 4 months. We are in an area that has never had spanish missionaries before, so we don't have much to work with. Its super exciting. Only two active members live in our area and all the rest of the active members live about 30 minutes away. There are so many churches here. We were told that there are over a hundred churches here and its only an 11 mile radius of the town...
Mom, will you look up how many churches there are in Staunton? and the population? The mountains here are hills compared to Utah but they are still pretty mountainy. It is super windy here. Its not terrible, like our power hasn't gone out or anything but we did get a warning on our door saying that it might. The branch is so small. I am pretty sure only like 30 people were at church. There were 9 people in Relief Society, 4 of which were missionaries. My new apartment is awesome. It is sooooo nice. We live on the top floor and we have a pretty awesome view. There are two bathrooms and and its just super roomy.
The first thing we did when we got here was meet with the branch president's wife. We wanted to meet with him but he was working. He has been the branch president for almost 9 years so they know a few things. We were talking and she gave us a referral so we decided to go try the referral the next day. Well we went, and we found her! She is really sweet and has lost a son in a car accident so she is a little bit sad right now but we have an appointment with her this Wednesday! We are really excited!
We found another investigator, Tato, in a trailer park. He thought the Book of Mormon was super interesting and he told us he wanted to come to church! We have a part member family we are working with. The Elders were working with them before. They have two girls and the mom that aren't members. The mom isn't super interested which makes it hard but the girls want to be baptized. So hopefully more on that next week :)
MIRACLE ALERT. So we went and tried the potentials in our area book (which is a solid 5 people). We tried this guy and he wasn't home so we left a card and didn't think anything of it. Well the next day we were at church and the branch president points to a guy who I totally thought was white and said "hey he is from Staunton, go talk to him." Well, he wasn't American, he is from Cuba. He works for our branch president and the branch president had invited him to church... well we had also left a card at his door yesterday!!! He came with that card. We asked if he was a member and he said "no but what do you have to do to become one?" So we got his information. He then told us that he used to live in New York and always thought the story of Joseph Smith was interesting. He was reading the Book of Mormon during the sacrament and he loved the hymns. He loved church so much. The testimonies were so awesome because they had just gone to the temple. Jose, the investigator cried and said he wanted to go and testify too because he felt the Spirit so strong.
So yes. Staunton is awesome. Its hard work but its awesome. I love this place already so much.
I love you all lots!
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